Being a Messy Mary

Whenever this text comes up in the lectionary readings, it almost begs for a few more verses. There should be a big old catfight between the sisters, food left burning in the oven and Jesus storming out the door dragging each woman by her hair.
It’s story that provokes all of the Martha’s in the world, all of the neat, organized and orderly people who have their spices alphabetically placed in the cabinet.
It’s a story that placates all of the Mary’s in the world, the ones who would rather be with the host of the party instead of in the kitchen preparing for it.
It’s the story of workers and shirkers, where no one seems to be truly satisfied.
The duty of a first-century Jewish woman is to help with household chores, and Mary knows this. By sitting at the feet of Jesus, she is acting like a man ... taking the place of an apostle! In this parable, Jesus allows Mary, a woman, to claim the same role that his disciples claim for themselves. She’s violating a crystal-clear social boundary, bringing shame upon her house, and neglecting her own family member! It makes me want to say, “Mary, Mary, what are you thinking?”
In the meantime, Martha is tugging at Jesus’ sleeve and his ear. The house is a mess, there’s a dinner to be cooked, and she needs assistance from her sibling. Martha’s protest is justifiable, but the gospel writer casts it in a negative light by characterizing Martha as distracted by her work.
We know how the story ends, with Martha asking Jesus to put Mary in her place. “Tell her to help me,” says Martha, assuming that Jesus will want their house to be in order. But Jesus answers her, “Martha, Martha, you are worried and distracted by many things; there is need of only one thing. Mary has chosen the better part, which will not be taken away from her” (Luke 10:40-42).

The surprising final score is Mary 1, Martha 0.

Martha and Mary, forever bound together in a message about propriety. The Felix and Oscar - the Odd Couple in the Bible.

Now, as enlightened 21st-century socially correct Christians, we might want to give Mary a thumbs-up for her come-from-behind victory, but the fact of the matter is that we tend to honor Martha in our day-to-day lives. We have a deep desire to be neat and tidy and organized, and we feel badly that our desks are overflowing with papers, our closets crammed full of clothes, and our garages and basements packed with tools, toys, sports equipment and boxes of who-knows-what.

According to The New York Times (December 21, 2006), sales of home-organizing products keep going up and up, from $5.9 billion in 2005 to a projected $7.6 billion in 2009. That’s a lot of accordion files and label-makers and plastic tubs. The industry that makes closet organizing systems pulls in $3 billion a year, according to Closets magazine.

However, The New York Times reports that a new movement is afoot, one that calls you to embrace your disorder and “say yes to mess.” Recent studies are revealing that

• messy desks are the marks of people with creative minds and higher salaries;
• messy closet owners are probably better parents than their tidier counterparts;
• really neat people are often humorless and inflexible, and not as great as they look.

No wonder we get confused when we read this parable. We must pay attention to Jesus when he honors Mary for listening instead of laboring. And we need to accept the fact that a perfectly organized life is not all that it’s cracked up to be.

The power of Mary is that she has her priorities straight. Neatnik Martha fusses around in the kitchen, “distracted by her many tasks” (v. 40), while Messy Mary leaves her stuff in a pile and plops down at the feet of Jesus. She’s showing that she loves the Lord her God with all her heart, all her soul, all her strength, and all her mind (v. 27) — she’s demonstrating her love of God by focusing intensely on his word as it is coming to her through Jesus.

Martha, on the other hand, is distracted by her work, and unable to hear the word of God. Biblical scholar Alan Culpepper reminds us that Jesus told a story, just two chapters earlier in the gospel of Luke, about what happens when a seed — representing the word of God — falls among thorns. In that case, the fruit of the seed cannot mature, because the thorny people are preoccupied with “the cares and riches and pleasures of life” (8:14).

In Eugene H. Peterson’s The Message, Jesus says: “Martha, dear Martha, you’re fussing far too much and getting yourself worked up over nothing. One thing only is essential, and Mary has chosen it — it’s the main course, and won’t be taken from her.”

Perhaps Peterson’s words “main course” for “better part” (NRSV) can help this well-worn story be heard in fresh ways. Members of the congregation never likes hearing this text preached because they always comes away with the sense that it’s never possible to get things right. If, like Martha, we work hard, we will be labeled “overfunctioning.” If, like Mary, we sit and listens too long, nothing gets done. I would like to have heard a final remark from Martha after Jesus tells her that Mary’s choice is more important: “So says you, but I know better. Listen, if I sat around on my salvation the way she does, who’d keep this house together?
As for Mary, she “has chosen the better part,” says Jesus, “which will not be taken away from her” (10:42). Mary knows that a person “does not live by bread alone” (4:4). Like the disciples, she leaves everything to follow Jesus (5:11). Like the good soil in the parable of the seed, she hears the word, holds it fast in an honest and good heart, and bears fruit with patient endurance (8:15).

Earlier in Luke, Jesus spoke of the sower and the seed as the word of God falling on the earth. In one case it fell among thorns, …those who do not receive it because they are preoccupied by the cares and riches and pleasures of life. Martha’s distraction places her in this category, even though she is fulfilling the role assigned to her by society, she allows secondary matters to distract her from hearing the word of God.
Jesus’ response to Martha is the climax of the scene. The repetition of her name, “Martha, Martha” conveys a mild rebuke or lament. Like demons, her own cares about fulfilling her duties have thrown her life into disorder. Like thorns, they have prevented her from attending to Jesus’ teachings.

Her life of order has been thrown into disorder. We have done the same things, time and again, to keep ourselves in the kitchen, chained to the refrigerator.
We tell ourselves that we can’t possibly do bible study because we don’t know enough about the bible to even turn to the right book. We tell ourselves that we can’t pray, because we’re afraid we won’t use the correct words. We tell ourselves that we can’t volunteer at church because we don’t understand what the committee does.

We fret and fuss and fume and keep everything under control, rather than lose ourselves to a life of unorganized faithfulness. What Jesus really said to Martha was “Don’t sweat the small stuff…and it’s ALL small stuff compared to the word of the Lord.”
Like the thorns that tormented Martha, let us not be held fast to the kitchen, but leave the dishes in the sink and settle into prayer. Let the vacuum be still and listen for the whispers of the Holy Spirit. Leave the leftovers out for a while and immerse yourself in prayer. Put the mop down and pick up a Bible.
The kitchen will always be there as a temptation for us. If you can’t stand the heat, then get out and cool down. Feast on the main course, forget your distractions and all things shall be well. Amen.